If you have Adsense for Search options on your web site then you will be interested to know that Google have updated the search facility and it is now powered by Custom Search. As the name implies, you can customize many of the search features for your web site (or blog).

These features include:(courtesy of Adsense blog)

• Site Search: you can choose to provide just site search so users can find all the information they’re looking for on your site.
• Improved indexing of your pages:AdSense for search will now index even more pages of your site, as long as we’re able to crawl them, so that your users will see more results from your site in your AdSense for search results.
• Vertical search:You can also allow your users to search across multiple sites - this could be a network of sites that you own or other related sites that you think your users might find useful.
• Tuning search results and ads with keywords: Search terms can have different meanings in different contexts, so you can now configure your search engine with relevant keywords.
• Selecting ad location: Do you want ads to appear at the top and bottom of your search results? Or along the right sidebar as well, just like on Google.com? Now you can make the call on where ads are placed.
• Quick and easy updates: Just as you use our ad management feature to quickly change the settings for your ad and referral units, you’ll be able to do the same for your search engine within your AdSense account.

This should provide a much better system and possibly a better return for publishers using Adsense for Search. Customization is certainly an improvement on the previous search options.

Do you know what version of WordPress or Joomla you are using? It doesn’t matter what CSM, blogging software, or other website software that you use, every now and then it will be updated and you’ll need to get the latest version. I highly recommend that you always use the latest version for one simple reason: Security.

Hackers and crackers are smart guys. They learn too. Every time a software is updated, the makers of that software package fix the security issues from the last version. But security only goes so far. The bad guys are out there learning the latest tricks too.

Especially if you are using open source software such as

• WordPress
• Joomla
• Drupal
• Pligg
• Or one of many other software packages available online

Because open source means that anyone can view the source code and modify it. That’s essentially an open door hackers and other bad guys to fiddle with the code to learn how it works. Then, when they figure it out, they create their own brands of software, robots, and malicious tools to break the code and hack into websites that use that software. That’s why you always see new software updates that say they’ve fixed security issues - because there are always security issues.

That doesn’t mean that your website is perpetually unsecure. It just means that you always have to stay one step ahead of the bad guys. And the surest way to do that is to update your software.

One feature I like about Google Webmaster Central is the Top 20 Queries tool. You can check to see what the top 20 queries for each of your websites are AND which ones are the most clicked on. This information is helpful to you as a webmaster for a couple of reasons. First, you need to know how people are finding your website. The top 20 queries allows you to see at a glance what queries people are seeking information on and which ones your site appears for. It even tells you the lineup in the SERPs for the pages you rank for. Secondly, if you see pages that you rank for but you are not appearing in the second column for (which queries people are clicking on) then you need to re-optimize those pages or tweak them so that you “get the click.”

Another detail that you can glean from this information is keywords you want to rank for but don’t. If pages that you want to rank for do not appear in the first list then you need to figure out a way to get them there. It may mean you need to optimize those pages better or it could mean you need more link building. Whatever the case, it’s time to analyze and see how you can keep improving. Search queries tell you a lot of information about where you fall in line against your competitors for your Search Engine Optimization efforts. Pay attention to them.

The Google Webmaster Blog had a great post today on what to do if your site gets hacked. The first thing you should not do is panic.

There’s no sure fire way to prevent your website from getting hacked, but there are some things that you can do to cut down on the risk of hackers screwing it up for you.

No. 1, use complicated passwords. Don’t use simple one word passwords that contain no capital letters or numbers. Simple passwords are easy to guess and many bots can figure them out in a crunch. Use complicated passwords and write them down in a place where no one else will find them. Keep them secure.

Use the latest edition of your software or CMS system. If your site is built on WordPress, make sure that you are using the latest edition of WordPress. They update often. The same goes for Joomla, Drupal, or any other CMS system. Get the latest update.

If using custom scripts, make sure your input fields are sanitized. That simply means that user input should never be trusted 100%. In order to prevent hacking via way of SQL injection and other technical methods of hacking that require user input, you should employ cookies, session tracking IDs, and hidden fields. These will cut down on your chances of hackers wreaking havoc on your website.

Remember that there is no fail safe way to prevent hacking, but these methods can cut down on any chances of your website being hacked.

One way to enhance your website is to add a gadget or two. Google Gadgets helps you do that so easily. There are more than 45,000 Google gadgets to choose from in several categories, including:

• News
• Communication
• Tools
• Finance
• Sports
• Fun & Games
• Lifestyle
• Technology

You can choose from gadget currently available or create your own. You simply choose the gadget you want to add to your website and insert the code where you think it fits.

It’s easy to search for the gadgets you want. You can search by category or by keyword simply by typing in the keyword into the Google Gadget search box and seeing what’s available. Through the Google Gadget interface, you can contact the gadget developer or view the source code. Then you just copy/paste the code into your web page and your visitors can benefit from the gadget.

Google gadgets make your website sticky and can also increase the Search Engine Optimization as many gadgets related to your niche operate on keyword usage. Get a gadget that closely matches your niche topic and your Google juice goes up as well.

You’ve likely heard of cookies and session IDs. The difference between a cookie and a session ID, briefly, is that a session ID expires after a user closes their browser or leaves your website. The cookie is downloaded to the website visitors hard drive and the next time they arrive at your site you are able to see what they’ve viewed or purchased in the past. That information can be extremely valuable.

1. With cookies, you can learn your users’ navigational preferences and tailor them to suit those preferences. In other words, if you have content on a tier 3 structure and there are multiple paths to a certain page, a cookie can tell you whether a visitor prefers to take Path A or Path B to get that specific content. You can then tailor your offerings to narrow down that navigational path for each user.
2. Cookies also allow you to maintain password-protected web pages, or membership sites, and show only those features that require a password to users with a cookie that has a password stored on it. Non-registered users will get the “plain vanilla” version while your registered users can enjoy all the benefits of your content.
3. Cookies can also restrict search engines from accessing and indexing certain portions or web pages on your website while allowing registered users the full benefit of the content.
4. One of the most powerful uses for cookies and session IDs is to tailor your product offerings to users based on past purchases. Amazon.com has gotten real good at this. If you know that a certain user has a preference for yellow widgets versus blue then if you roll out a new product called Super-Duper Yellow Widget then your cookie can let you know when visitors with that preference are on your site. Your content will then be tailored to make an offer to those visitors while ignoring the visitors who prefer blue widgets.
5. Cookies can also tailor your advertising toward visitors with certain content preferences - even on the same page. For instance, if that yellow widget customer decides to visit the blue widget page then they’ll still see ads for yellow widgets even though that page normally displays ads for blue widgets.
6. Of course, the most common usage for cookies and session IDs is to improve user experience. Cookies can remember your visitors’ passwords and allow them to visit your site without having to login manually every time. You can even program the cookie to give your visitors a choice about that as some users are more concerned with privacy issues.
7. Cookies can also help you tailor your advertising preferences to certain types of advertisers who have shows a tendency to prefer certain types of content over others for their advertising purposes.

Cookies are very powerful and can be useful to you, your advertisers, search engines, and your visitors. Information can be collected on all of the above from all of the above for all of the above.

So you’ve decided that you want a part of your site to be secure. Good for you. But how do you ensure that it stays secure?

Just in case you aren’t aware of it. Any time you see http:// in an URL, it means you are looking at a non-secure web page. By contrast, https:// denotes that the web page is secure. Typically, you’ll see the https:// in the URL on pay pages, whenever you are purchasing something and you need to give out credit card information or other personal data. If you don’t see the https:// on a page that asks for your personal or private information then run away. Don’t give up your information because it isn’t secure.

But there are other reasons for want to ensure certain web pages are secure. Maybe you have a membership site and you want to restrict access to the membership benefits of your site to your visitors who are not members. You may not necessarily need the https:// distinction in those pages, but you definitely should have a password system to give access to those site visitors who are members. But there are some other things you should do as well.

First, the danger of web security. You might make the mistake, if you are new to this area of webmastering, of leaving an unsecure link leading from the non-secure part of your site to the secure part of your site. If that happens then there is a hole in your security and anyone will be able to get in. To prevent that from happening you can add “nofollow” and “noindex” tags to your robots.txt file or meta tag. By keeping the search engine spiders from crawling your links and indexing your secure pages, you ensure that security holes are not leaked and that future searchers do not find your secure web pages in the SERPs. It’s a small measure you can take to ensure that the secure parts of your website remain secure.

The Google Webmaster Central Blog posted a review of its developments from last year just two days ago. It was a good list. If I were to say which development is the most important I’d have to go with the Video Sitemaps announcement last month. As more and more people go online and more people start using higher bandwidth connections, more marketers will start using video. This will become a very important tool for a lot of viral video marketers in 2008. It also has huge potential to be a long-lasting tool that will serve webmasters for many years to come, and will only improve along the way.

Other notable developments for Google Webmaster Central last year include:

• Moved out of beta
• Extended support for link queries
• Introduction of the Message Center
• Robots.txt file analyzer
• Geographic targeting feature

I highly recommend that you subscribe to the Google Webmaster Central Blog. It’s one of the most important tools for webmasters anywhere online.

(Source) At BlogWorld, an audience member asked me to share my #1 SEO recommendation for bloggers. Tough question, right? I told the audience that every blogger should sign up for Google Webmaster Tools.

Andy Beal’s advice is stellar. GoDaddy is one of the best web hosts online and no blogger should go one day without Google Webmaster Tools. The information you get as a part of Google Webmaster Tools is unquestionably the best you can get anywhere. You can manage your Google AdWords account, read the Google blog, add your sitemaps, report spam and paid links, check your gmail messages, and they have a host of other features as well.

And GoDaddy? What do they have to offer? That’s easy:

• Hosting plans starting at $3.99 per month
• 24/7 monitoring
• Firewalls
• Dedicated servers
• Up to 2,000 GB data transfer
• Up to 200 GB disk space

When it comes to webmaster tools for you small online business, Google and GoDaddy make a good team.

Last week, Brick Marketing launched another blog. The Website Marketing Journal is focused on bringing daily blog posts to help website owners improve their overall marketing efforts for each website they own. Going beyond search engine optimization and web page design, Website Marketing Journal is devoted to covering the full scope of marketing a website without it being too broad of a subject matter.

Website Marketing Journal was officially launched on September 1, 2007. Since then, Brick Marketing has posted five blog posts, including:

• Understanding Website Search Engine Optimization
• Website Marketing Tools For Building Your Safe List
• Easy Ways To Boost Your Website’s Lead Generation Potential
• Branding Your Website
• Choosing Better Keywords For Website Search Engine Optimization

Over the next few weeeks, Website Marketing Journal will cover the following topics more in depth:

• Website branding
• Website customer management
• Website lead generation
• Website local advertising
• Website marketing content
• Website marketing tools
• Website sales
• Website search engine marketing
• Website search engine optimization

For daily insights on how to make the most of your website marketing potential through organic search strategies as well as through other effective website marketing tools, be sure to read the Website Marketing Journal.

(Source) As you know, the queries used to find your website in search results can change over time. Your website content changes, as do the needs of all the busy searchers out there. Whether the queries associated with your site change subtly or dramatically, it’s pretty useful to see how they transform over time.

This is a useful feature. If you want to know how queries that led to increased traffic to your site have changed over time, now you can get this information at Google’s Webmaster Central. This has been a useful tool for webmasters all along, but now it’s even better.

Google is now letting webmasters see this information as far back as 6 months. If certain search queries that found your site six months ago aren’t leading to results for you now, you can go back and analyze that and find out why. Maybe you’ve watered down your SEO or maybe people aren’t using certain queries as much as they were six months ago. People do change their search habits based on past search experiences and they do get better at it.

In all, I’d say this feature is long overdue. I’m glad they’ve come up with it.